Glencore signed a five year agreement with battery-maker Samsung SDI for the supply of cobalt hydroxide. Under the terms of this supply contract, Glencore will provide up to 21,000 tonnes of cobalt contained in cobalt hydroxide between 2020 and 2024.

The cobalt will be sourced from Glencore’s industrial mining operations located in the DRC; Glencore produces cobalt mainly as a by-product of copper mining. The company has two copper mining operations in the DRC—Katanga and Mutanda—that provides cobalt hydroxide and copper cathodes. Glencore closed Mutanda for two years at the end of 2019, taking about 20% of the world’s cobalt supply offline. Katanga reported earlier this month that cobalt contained in hydroxide production increased to 6,173 tonnes in Q4 2019 from 4,763 tonnes in Q3 2019.

Glencore and Samsung SDI are committed to ensuring the ethical and responsible production and procurement of cobalt.

Both parties agree that Glencore’s DRC operations will be independently audited each year against the “Cobalt Refinery Supply Chain Due Diligence Standard”. This standard is defined by the Responsible Mining Initiative (RMI).

We are pleased to extend our partnership with Samsung SDI by entering into this long-term cobalt supply agreement. This demonstrates a further continuation of Glencore’s cobalt hydroxide marketing strategy to secure long term supply agreements with key players in the lithium-ion battery supply chain. This also illustrates Glencore’s important role in supplying the materials that enable the energy and mobility transition and Glencore’s commitment to responsible production.

—Nico Paraskevas, Head of Copper & Cobalt Marketing, Glencore